IOWA CITY - Cully Payne verbally committed to play basketball at a Big East school as an eighth grader.

He ended up signing with a SEC program in his senior year in high school.

Payne wears the University of Iowa white as the Hawkeyes square off with Duquesne tonight at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The addition of Payne, a 6-foot-1 point guard from Schaumburg, Ill., is a welcome sight for Iowa.

With the transferring of Jake Kelly and Jeff Peterson, the Hawkeyes had a huge void at the point.

"I saw it as a great opportunity to come in and play," Payne said. "More importantly the university and the people from academics to athletics, this is just a great place to be."

Payne committed to DePaul as an eighth grader and actually signed with Alabama as a senior. After Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried resigned last winter, Payne was granted a release from his commitment and landed in Iowa City.

Now he is a starter in the Big Ten Conference.

"It is exciting to be able to play in the Big Ten as a freshman and be the starting point guard," Payne said. "That's all great, but along with that comes a lot of responsibility too. I've been watching a lot of film and doing different things to prepare."

Head coach Todd Lickliter didn't commit to a No. 1 point guard during the preseason.

"We have at least four guys that can handle the ball well enough and have a good enough understanding that can give us some time at that place," Lickliter said, mentioning Anthony Tucker, Matt Gatens, John Lickliter and Payne as possibilities.

Gatens is the team's top returning scorer at 10.8 points per game last year from a wing position.

"In this offense, the coaches tell us whoever gets the rebound, you're welcome to bring the ball up the court," Gatens said.

"I've done a lot in the offseason with working on my ball handling with Coach (LaVall) Jordan and I feel comfortable doing that if that's what the coaches need me to do," he added.

Payne is someone Lickliter describes as a true point guard.

"A true point guard is a guy who has terrific vision. He has the ability to handle the ball and to make good decisions because of that vision and is comfortable there," Lickliter said. "Cully likes to have the ball in his hands."

The point guard spot may be the most demanding spot in Lickliter's system.

"There are tons of challenges," said Payne, who was a first team all-state selection as he averaged 21.6 points and 5.4 assists per game as a senior at Schaumburg High School. "Playing in the Big Ten is a challenge by itself. Getting to know the system, getting to know what we do, where guys need the ball, when they're most a threat to the basket, there's tons of little things."

The route to the program wasn't direct, but Lickliter believes things worked out as they should have.

"I tell our coaches if you do what's right, you treat people fairly and you work hard, it's not luck, you get breaks," Lickliter said. "We had a camp where Cully was going to attend back before his senior year and the flood came and he didn't come.

"I'd like to think if he had and would have met us and seen the campus, it would have been different."